Gothika (Blu-ray) (2003)

"...will manage to quicken your pulse and keep you in state of nervous anticipation.  A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"Insanely creepy...  Jeffrey K. Howard, ABC-TV
"...delivers jolts. It scared me silly.  Josh Larsen, Sun Publications
"Kassovitz directs with an unrelenting intensity that helps you to suspend disbelief almost all the way to the credits.  Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"A total scream!  Thelma Adams, Us Weekly

Editor's Note GOTHIKA stars Halle Berry as Dr. Miranda Grey, a psychiatrist who becomes a patient in her own mental hospital after she is accused of murdering her husband (Charles S. Dutton). Grey's only initial memory of the incident involves a chilling encounter with a distraught girl (Kathleen Mackey) on a rain-soaked road. The incarcerated and medicated Grey is now haunted by the same apparition, and she must convince her former colleague Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.) that she is not insane or guilty of murder. Meanwhile, the seemingly mad ramblings of Chloe (Penelope Cruz), one of Grey's former patients, now make more sense, and Grey must throw aside clinical logic to solve the supernatural murder mystery. Kassovitz, who is already a capable actor (AMELIE) and director (CRIMSON RIVERS), makes the leap to Hollywood filmmaking with GOTHIKA. Drawing from heavily from the Japanese horror renaissance that began with RINGU in the late 1990s, Kassovitz conjures up a forebodingly stark and shadowy tale. Berry continues her remarkable string of success (after her Oscar-winning role in MONSTER'S BALL, along with DIE ANOTHER DAY and X-MEN 2), portraying Grey as a traumatized and vulnerable yet determined woman who must unravel the brutal and bizarre knot of her own lost memory. As Grey's coworker, Downey Jr. adds an intriguing element to the film, and Cruz, as a frustrated inmate, gives an unusual quirky performance. A scare-laden thriller that delights in the strange and the frightening, GOTHIKA proves to be one of the finest of 2003's many horror films.

	Charles S. Dutton
	Halle Berry
	Penelope Cruz
	Robert Downey, Jr.
	Graham "Grace" Walker - Production Designer
	Isabelle Guay - Art Director
	Joel Silver - Producer
	John Ottman - Original Music By
	Mathieu Kassovitz - Director
	Matthew Libatique - Cinematographer
	Robert Zemeckis - Producer
	Sebastian Gutierrez - Writer
	Yannick Kergoat - Editor

Entertainment Weekly
"...Berry takes on the plump genre role with tense earnestness. And she's met head-on by Robert Downey Jr...." 11/28/2003 p.98

Chicago Sun-Times
"The casting of Halle Berry is useful to the movie, because she evokes a vulnerable quality that triggers our concern." 11/21/2003 p.38

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"The casting of Halle Berry is useful to the movie, because she evokes a vulnerable quality that triggers our concern. Hitchcock might have wanted to work with her. He didn't cast so much for acting ability as for an innate quality. Berry can act, all right (see ""Monster's Ball"") but she can also simply evoke, and here, where she's required to fight her way out of a nightmare, that quality is crucial. She carries us along with her, while logic and plausibility (see above) simply become irrelevant...Any criticism of this movie that says it doesn't make sense is missing the point. Any review that faults it for going over the top into lurid overkill is criticizing its most entertaining quality. Any critic who mocks the line ""I'm not deluded, Pete -- I'm possessed!"" should be honest enough to admit that, in the moment, he liked it. It takes nerve to make a movie like this in the face of the taste police, but Kassovitz and Berry have the right stuff." - Roger Ebert

Reel.com 6 of 10
"Much like the main character of the movie, French director Mathieu Kassovitz must've temporarily suffered a blackout himself when he agreed to make Gothika, his first American feature. It's yet another suspense film about a haunted heroine who tries to solve a series of mysterious crimes after she receives messages from a dripping-wet ghost girl...Not surprisingly, Gothika is yet another typical Dark Castle production, along with previous releases such as Ghost Ship and House on Haunted Hill. Gothika fits in quite well with DC's repertoire of big-budget B-horror fare--award-winning cast members (it was Geoffrey Rush in House on Haunted Hill and Gabriel Byrne in Ghost Ship) and cliche-ridden stories add up to lukewarm genre films that lack originality and fresh ideas...Gothika is far from even coming close to being called a good film, but it won't hurt to check it out if you're looking for some mindless entertainment (or you just don't care what you watch)." - Rudy Joggerst